


RedPen's No-Nonsense (Ok, Slightly Nonsensical) Writing Guide

by RedPen (GardenVatiety)



Category: How to write (focus on Zootopia)
Genre: How To Write, Narrative strategies, Other, Writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 19:00:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10577511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GardenVatiety/pseuds/RedPen
Summary: There are exactly two ways to get better at writing. One - do it often. Two - after you've done it, stop and think about it. Reflection is one of the most effective tools to improving your practice, whatever it may be, and writing is no exception. I made some personal notes about some of the stories I've written, and realised parts of it were a serviceable writing guide. So, I buffed it up and figured I'd post it here, and let you decide if there's anything worthwhile in my advice.





	

**Author's Note:**

> When I got started with this fan-fiction malarkey, I wanted to write one-shots because I was overwhelmed by the prospect of attempting a complete narrative. I'm a little more savvy now, but there are still parts of the process that present a challenge. If you've found yourself in a similar situation, maybe something in here will be helpful. Let me know if you disagree, or have additional points, or an alternate approach. This isn't a prescriptive approach. It's just some things that worked for me, and hopefully its the start of a discussion, as well.

I’ve heard of writers who just start at word one and keep typing until they’re finished. I’ve heard of writers who write the scenes out of order, and then connect those pierces later. I have no idea how to make either of those strategies work. I find assembling a story to be a daunting and difficult task: coordinating the plot; maintaining consistency in tone and character development; keeping themes running; inventing believable ways to reach desired story outcomes. None of that comes easily to me, and the only I could thing to get around that is to come up with a system that takes the strain off by helping me organise the overall structure and direction, allowing me to focus on the smaller pieces. So, what I thought I’d do is run through the process I’ve developed over the course of Fox’s Guile, and you’re welcome to emulate whatever parts of it you think will work for you. Here we go!

 

Step One: Don’t Write Anything. At all.

Ok, I’m being as bit hyperbolic, but honestly, I think it’s a mistake to seriously write any part of your story until you’ve got a solid grasp on the entirety of the thing. That means asking yourself a couple of questions:

  * Where is my story ultimately going to end up?
  * Is there a twist I want to incorporate?
  * Is there an exciting set piece I want to include? Will it make sense with the rest of the story?
  * Is there an overarching theme that will suit the work and give it depth?
  * Is there a certain way I want the characters to develop?
  * And one really important one: Why am I writing this story?



Think about that last one. There are a lot of ways to consider and measure good writing, but broadly, I think good writing is whatever achieves the purpose it sets out for. To make people laugh? Cry? To explore a social issue? An interesting ‘what if’ scenario? And if in asking any of the above questions it seems that you’ll be writing very closely to something someone else has already written, then think about why your audience will enjoy reading your story compared to theirs. Is there something you want to do noticeably different? Is there an idea you think hasn’t been explored yet?

Even this little guide here has its ‘why’ questions answered; I wanted it to be concise and practical, and still fun to read. So, to that end, let’s have a joke – What do you call a three-humped camel? Oh, you’ve heard that one before…Well, shit, let’s move on then.

 

Step 2: Do some research

How much? Depends on what you’re writing. For 'Of Salt and Steel', I’ve accumulated a couple of pages of notes, and if I were taking this more seriously, that would probably be ten times the size. Your reference pages then go at the top of your page, or somewhere else easily referenced, so that details can be quickly retrieved.

A quick survey of my current notes page reveals a whole assortment of curio: labelled diagrams of ship parts; cannon specifications; ranks and positions on naval ships; the applications of pitch for boats; that a ‘doxy’ is a ‘rogue’s girlfriend’ (what a stellar insult that is!). Some of it I use constantly, some of it is just waiting for the right moment, and it gets added to persistently anytime I find something new or interesting. Doing it slowly and in parts staves of research fatigue.

It’s probably wise to do enough research at the beginning to makes sure your story precedes in the right direction, but don’t let it slow your writing. There’s no shame in making parts of it up; it’s a story, not a historical biopic. As a quick example, when I had Lars and Harley play a game of dice, I went and researched the rules. Well, fuck me; maybe I’m just thick, but I simply couldn’t fathom any of what I read. So, I stopped puzzling at the rules and just made some up; what was more important was the way the interactions over their game weaved their way through the discussion about Judith and Nick, so that was what I focused on.

So, don’t be afraid of spending some time studying up on key topics. Try to find ways to make it interesting for yourself. For example, here’s a list of Scottish town plans. I could spend hours zooming into the weird and captivating details of these; sections of town labelled The Shambles and the like. Yeah, The Shambles. In 1800s Scotland. Just imagine what it looked like. That will hopefully all go to helping me create believable and interesting colonial towns and cities, where I’d be lost if I went on without some preparation.

http://maps.nls.uk/towns/#largs

One final suggestion – avoid relying on other fanfics to shoulder the research for you. Whether that’s police radio codes, or mechanical specs, or matters of vulpine biology; it’s always best to check for yourself. Firstly, you can’t be certain the original author got it right; I just said that a lot of my details are fabrications. Secondly, in the course of looking these things up, you might find other facts that will inspire original ideas. That’s an opportunity you don’t want to pass up.

 

Step 3: Write out a plan for the whole work

One thing that I appreciate in other authors’ writing is when they foreshadow, or leave hints, about upcoming plot events. For example;

“Nick presumed [the rum] had been distilled inexpertly by some sun-addled islander hoping to make a quick profit, and it burned on the way down his throat like hot coals. He supposed – and didn’t have the bravery to test – that the rum was **actually highly flammable.”**

Before I even started writing, I had an idea that Judith would engage the enemy with a brilliant plan, then there would be a reversal of fortune, and a near and hopeless brush with defeat that Nick could reverse with a rum-fuelled explosion. No idea of the specifics of how to get there, mind you; just a clear sense that that’s where I wanted the story to go, so I knew to mention it earlier. In my work plan, that looked like;

Nick is sitting, drinking rum (mention its flammability).

The same went for the hole in his coat, and the unfired deck cannons, and even Bronhelm’s demise on the end of a spear were dot-pointed before they were written. If those moments hadn’t been planned before hand, I would have had to go back and crowbar them in. If you’ve written paragraphs that have tight cohesion, which I try to do, going back to shoehorn changes in can present a real difficulty. At any rate, my chapter plans are about 2 or 3 pages, and are a lot of work to complete, but it gives mw time to really consider the details of the plot and lets me write with more confidence.

 

Step 4: Write a chapter plan

Nothing too in-depth; usually it’s a collection of bullet points that let you string together the details. It isn’t supposed to be prescriptive, and I during the process of writing I’m likely to reorder, redact, introduce or otherwise edit the order, but it should stop you from getting writer’s block in regard to getting your paragraphs to link cohesively; from accidently digressing in a manner that detracts from your story.

An example; the Lars and Harley scene from Chapter 6. If all I’d gone on was a rough idea, or the brief notes in my work plan, that scene would have taken a lot longer to write and would probably have lacked a lot of its detail. So, something like this gets written first:

  * Two mammals playing poker/dice
  * Talk about the grandiose ship, access to fine brandy
  * Talk about how they were involved
  * Conversations shifts to the heroics on the deck
  * Talk about Judith, discussion of how she is joked about
  * One swears they saw Nick fighting expertly, praises
  * Other is disbelieving.
  * Nick enters (or was there all along, looking for peace and quiet) in bandages, jokes with the mammals (evident discomfort), drinks and compares to Blackrock rum
  * Excuses himself to find Judith



That bears a rough approximation to how that scene unfolds; some things added, some forgotten, but overall, it’s a workable skeleton that left me free to think about the interesting details that a reader would like; the ‘caramel-rich glow’ and all that.

 

Step 5: Write your chapter

Pretty much everyone will probably have their own favoured conditions to write in, so do what works for you. Personally, I want graveside silence. I also write reasonably quickly, and avoid getting hung up on phrases, sentences or expressions that aren’t quite perfect. You’ll never get perfection on the first go; that’s what editing is for.

 

Step 6: Highlight sections you aren’t sure about

Once you’re finished, read your story aloud to yourself. As you go, tidy up any obvious spelling and grammar errors, but mainly look for all those not-quite-perfect bits. Maybe you notice you’ve used a certain word to often. Maybe there’s a phrase you’ve used that doesn’t fit with the rest of your writing style. Maybe you think one section needs more detail. Highlight everything. If you’re using Word, use the Comments feature and add in annotations about why you think something needs changing. Things like ‘lacks detail’, or ‘character should mention tacos’, or whatever…probably not that last one. Or maybe yes to the last one. More stories do need more tacos. I probably average about 20 comments a page after I’m done. Not all of it gets changed, but certainly most of it will.

 

Step 7: Go surfing

Or…go wash your car, or something. Go ice-skating. Try haloumi. Go photobomb a local news reporter. Whatever takes your mind of writing for a while.

 

Step 8: Edit your draft for punctuation and comments

Once you’ve given it some time, reread your whole work (out loud again is always good; yeah, people will think you’re crazy, what of it?), and revisit all those proposed changes. A lot of them will seem fine on a second viewing, and with any luck, in the time you spent away, you’ll have come up with some exciting and quality alternatives to the phrases or words that didn’t quite fit. You might need to do this 2 or 3 times before you’re satisfied with the final product. Hey, you’ve put in this much effort; you might as well be get it pretty much spot on.

Oh, and punctuation? Alright, I know it’s not very interesting to most people, but once you know a rule, you don’t forget it, especially if you’re using it frequently when you write. One good trick; if you like writing, chances are sound that you like reading as well, so pay close attention to how other authors use their punctuation. Or, quickly swatch up on where commas go, or how to punctuate dialogue, or what nouns need capitalising. I’m sorry, but badly punctuated writing is both hard to read and breaks the immersion. It doesn’t need to be faultless (I’m sure someone is now combing through my stories, looking for grammatical fuck-ups. I’ve no issue with that; pedantry isn’t an insult or a dirty word) but if there are too many errors, people are probably going to switch off.

 

Step 9: Tidying up – Title, Page Breaks, etc.

It’s time to ice your cake. Put cachous on it. I’m not much use to you here; my chapter names are garbage, generally. I go hunting through the story for a slightly meaningful phrase, and that’s about it. Other writers are much better at it. As for the overall work title? I like to tie it in to something foreshadowed, like Fox’s Guile being the name Judith gives to the island Nick steered them through. It’s not essential to the story, but it does create a nice effect.

There’s all sorts of other little features that you might like to add at this point. I decided I wanted customised page break icons in my story, so I drew one up quickly, posted it to a Deviant Art account, and uploaded it in place of the boring hyphens I was using. Now my story has an additional, personal touch that I’m really proud of. Absurdly proud, actually; I like them more than any of the writing I’ve done. The process is pretty simple:

  * Design your page break image. Best to make it long and flat. Or, if you’re not that good at drawing, find a royalty-free image, or ask someone _very nicely_ if you can borrow something and _definitely only if they assent_ use that.
  * Scan it, tidy it up, whatever you need to do. Post it somewhere on the internet.
  * Go to the edit screen where your work is posted. Make sure it’s in rich text format.
  * Wherever you want a page break, write some text and centre it (like I said, I had hyphens as place-holders)
  * Select that centred text
  * Go to insert picture
  * Put in the images URL, and the dimensions you want the image scaled to
  * Repeat for all other page breaks
  * Sit back and marvel at how much more awesome the world is now



 

Writing isn’t a science. It’s an art. That doesn’t mean you can’t make bad, which is close enough to wrong, decisions. But there aren’t any formulas for the perfect story. There’s just choices that support your writing’s purpose, and choices that detract from it; approaches that make it easier to write, and approaches that make it difficult. This definitely isn’t a list of commandments. It’s just the strategy that I’ve found gets me from an empty word doc to a completed narrative with as little anguish and time wasted as possible. With any luck, something in here helps you build that little bit of courage you need to convince yourself your story will be worth writing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Now go write something awesome! I need things to read in bed, y'all.


End file.
